Emergency Power Supply...

For those of you who follow Alaska's weather news, you've probably heard about the double whammy of storms that have hit us (especially Anchorage) the last 2 days. There are still a lot of folks without power, for the second day.

The local (Anchorage) newspaper is reporting this today.

I'd like to re-share an article I wrote a few years back...

Emergencies, and why we aren't as prepared as we think we are...

I can't stress enough how important it is to be prepared BEFORE a disaster strikes! Something as simple as no electricity will make things miserable very quickly!

Are you a consumer, or a creator?

Reading my blog roll this morning got me thinking about something important.  To the food companies, and the government, we are all just "consumers".  We buy whatever they put on the shelves, whatever they tell us we need to spend our money on.  New cars, huge houses, gadgets and gizmos that are outdated a week after we purchase them.  Buy this, buy that, work 80 hours a week so you can buy more of our products... after all, your neighbor has one... so don't you need one too?  My answer is a resounding NO!!!  Why should I spend every hard earned penny on pre-packaged crap and things that will break after only a few uses.  Why should I spend $50K on a new vehicle when my 11 year old truck is functional and already makes me happy?  Why should I trust a food company who just recalled a bunch of their "kid-friendly" meals because they are full of bits of wire, or feed my children from a package that has to shout out what is healthy about it, because when I look at the ingredients list, most of it I can't even pronounce, let alone know what it is?  Because my government tells me that spending all my money on this crap is the "American Way"? NO!!!  NO NO NO!!!

I refuse to be defined as a "Consumer" any longer.  I am a creator!  I created a beautiful, bountiful garden where there was just a pile of large rocks.  I create the most beautiful garden soil by being conscious of my waste around the house and yard.  I grow amazing tasting vegetables that have no unpronounceable ingredient lists.  I can create cheese, butter, beautiful jams and jellies, sew a $50 curtain from $5 worth of material, crochet a warm blanket for my children from the scrap yarns that were given to me, knit scarves and hats and gloves, bake rustic loaves of bread, build most of the garden tools I need... the list just goes on and on!  I am limited in my creations only by my own imagination, and for the government to tell me that I am an irresponsible citizen for not going out to spend spend spend is simply assinine.

If the price of consumables skyrockets, (ha... "if".  Its happening right now, folks), I will be ok.  I'm not 100% self sufficient, but between me and my family, we can mostly take care of ourselves if it is required.  I have neighbors that I can count on to lend a hand, even though we all mostly keep to ourselves in our day to day lives.  I live in a small community which chooses to self fund their projects through raffles, community donations, and volunteers, (most recently a sports arena/hockey rink,) rather than asking the government for money.  I am a creator, and I choose to create a healthy, happy, anti-consumerist life for myself and my family.  And guess what... you can be a creator too!  There are people out there that will help you, teach you, guide you.  Its not as hard as the big corporations who want your money would like you to believe!  Reach out... try it... you can make it happen!  Your bank account and your quality of life will thank you!

Emergencies, and why we aren't as prepared as we think we are...

This weekend was a big eye opener for my family and I.  Friday night we lost power, due to the unusually high winds sending an unusually high number of trees into the power lines.  No big deal, right?  We've weathered lots of power outages before!  They never last more than a few hours, and we have lots of candles and blankets.

Saturday morning came, and we were still without power.  Hmm.  We don't own a generator.  The 6 year old keeps forgetting to NOT flush the toilet, and now we have no water.  Should we try to find a generator?  Nah, the power will surely be back on in a few hours!

Saturday night, still no power.  DON"T OPEN THE FREEZER!!!  I have hundreds of dollars worth of food in the freezer, and if it thaws out, we're in trouble.  And its getting really cold in here.  Its 36 degrees outside.

Sunday morning, still no power.  The house is very cold, and everything in the refrigerator is spoiled, including all the green beans I just harvested from the garden and hadn't had a chance to process yet.  Husband decided that we have to get a generator NOW.  Off to town we go, and had to look at 6 stores to find one.  Imagine that, we weren't the only ones who decided we should get one!  $800.00 later, we're on our way home, sure that the power will be on now that we spent all that money.  Thank God we aren't burdened by credit cards any longer and had money in savings to pay cash.

What the Hell?!  Now its SNOWING!!!

Back at home, the power still isn't on, so we get the generator running, and get the fridge, freezer and furnace plugged in by running extension cords through the kitchen window..  No well pump, as we aren't wired to switch it easily to generator power.  If it was colder out, the well lines would all be frozen by now.  We all took baby-wipe baths and snuggled in to watch a movie on the little TV that we plugged into the generator.  If we hadn't gotten the generator, the freezers would be thawing by now. 

We ran the generator all night last night.  At 5:15 the alarm went off.  Time for Rob to get ready for work.  UGH.  But then, a flash and a buzz, and on came the power!  Yahoo!!!  It was off for a total of 60 hours.  If we hadn't left early Sunday to get the generator, they would have been all sold out and we would have been out of luck.

Top 5 things I learned from this ordeal...

1. Canning my produce, and even as much meat as I can, is a very good idea.  The freezer is not a dependable food storage solution.

2. This is ALASKA.  You need backup power.  Dependable back up power.  And you need the house wired for that backup power.

3. Kids get scared when the power goes off, even if they say they are fine.

4. Have emergency funds.  Since we don't have credit cards (thank God) we would have been in a much worse situation if we had no way to buy the generator and emergency food and fuel.

5. I want a woodstove.  You can heat with it AND cook with it.

Watch this movie!!!

38 Principles of Self-Sufficiency

Copy and paste this link to a very good post about self sufficiency...

http://thesurvivalmom.com/2009/09/04/38-principles-of-self-sufficiency/